Eyewitnesses who chased gunmen on Sunday night say incitement by ministers and other leaders is having an effect on Hindutva foot soldiers
Protesters gather outside Jamia Nagar police station demanding action against the shooters, late on Sunday night. Pic/Shashwat Das
Recounting Sunday night's shooting at Jamia Millia Islamia University during an anti-CAA protest, students told mid-day how they ran after the shooters but they managed to flee because the barricade, which the police put up every night, was surprisingly missing. They blamed the shootings on the leaders whose provocative statements have "motivated" these people.
THE shots were fired around 11.30 pm, the third unprovoked shooting in the aftermath of the provocative speeches made by BJP leaders during the intense campaigning for the Assembly polls in the national capital. During a recent election rally, Union minister Anurag Thakur had egged on the crowd to raise an incendiary slogan, to "shoot the traitors" after he lashed out at anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) protesters. Later, BJP MP Parvesh Sharma had said that the protesters at Shaheen Bagh will "enter your houses, rape your sisters and daughters and kill them". Interestingly, the Shaheen Bagh stir is being led by women who are accompanied by their children.
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"The statements about using bullets have had an obvious effect. They [shooters] get the courage from political leaders, who encourage such behaviour. It is the leaders who give these people motivation to indulge in such acts," Bilal Ibnu Shahul, a second-year MA student of Jamia, told mid-day over the phone.
"Around 11.30 pm, close to 100 people, including women who had come from adjoining areas like Batla House to join the movement against CAA, were at Jamia Square near the university's gate number 7. It is sort of an enclosed space. Everything seemed normal until we heard a loud sound and a muzzle flash. It came from the road between gate number 5 and 7. A person riding pillion on a red scooter had fired the shots in the air. We ran behind them but they sped away," Bilal said.
Shashwat Das, 21, an Indraprastha University student, arrived at the protest site a few minutes later and heard about the event from an eyewitness, Godan Ahmed. Ahmed told Das that a few of them were standing on the road when two people rode past them. "They momentarily slowed down, fired shots in the air and fled in full speed. We ran after them…but they escaped." "There was no police barricade on the opposite end of the road, which is why the duo was able to escape. The students keep a check on security at the barricades...the police have not been deployed to enforce safety in the area," Das told mid-day.
Bilal Ibnu Shahul, a Jamia student
Enraged by the third unprovoked shooting at an anti-CAA protest site, as many as 600 people, including students from Jamia's men's hostel, gathered outside Jamia Nagar police station demanding action against the culprits. The police have registered an FIR into the firing incident.
Confused youth: BJP on shooters
After firing incidents in Shaheen Bagh and Jamia area of Delhi, BJP MP Arjun Singh on Monday said that "our youth" fired in "confusion".
"Muslim people have been made to sit in Shaheen Bagh with the protection from the opposition. An incident happened in Jamia which has nothing to do with CAA... our youngsters have fired shots in confusion," Singh told ANI.
He also drew parallels between the incidents in Delhi and murder of two right-wing leaders in Uttar Pradesh, while asserting that not enough was being done over the killing incidents.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday accused the AAP and the Congress of fuelling the anti-CAA demonstrations in Delhi.
Addressing a rally in Karkardooma in east Delhi, Modi alleged that the AAP and the Congress were provoking people and misinforming them. "Are these protests coincidental. No, this is not coincidental, it is an experiment," he said.
Modi also took a swipe at the Congress saying those who questioned the Batla House encounter are now saving those who raised 'tukde tukde' slogans.
100
No. of protesters present during Sunday’s firing
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